RELIABILITY

Our People

Brooke Paul

Founder & CEO

Brooke is a serial entrepreneur and corporate intrapreneur with more than 20 years of senior executive leadership ranging from green-field startups to Fortune 500 companies. He has worked in technology and innovation for Reed-Elsevier, Allstate, Lexis-Nexis, and American Financial Group. Brooke has founded, built, and successfully exited startups in the Internet, cyber-security, and hospitality industries. He currently leads Taivara to bring the lean and nimble product management practices used by startups and venture capitalists to enterprise customers.

Michael Shuchter

CMO & Practice Leader, Corporate Innovation

Michael brings years of strategy, marketing and new product leadership experience to his work in our innovation practice. Consulting for companies of all types and sizes, he comes alongside executive, innovation and product/project teams, helping them identify market problems they can solve, create value propositions that resonate and build differentiated business models. As CMO, he’s also responsible for Taivara’s marketing and program development. In his spare time, Michael plays with his young children, and fishes badly.

Roy Slagle

CTO & Practice Leader, Software Design & Development

Roy is a technology leader with 20 years of experience across industries such as financial services, insurance, and ecommerce. He has extensive experience in enterprise-scale web and mobile applications as well as agile startups. He has led large technology initiatives in the customer-facing digital space at JPMorgan Chase as well as B2B insurance brokering platforms for Wachovia. He also founded a startup providing ecommerce solutions for companies such as Liebert, Autodesk, Donatos, Lucent, and Sony.

Kevin Dwinnell

Practice Leader, Product Strategy & Commercialization

Kevin has a history of driving product innovation, testing promising business markets and forging robust client relationships to boost top-line revenue. With more than 20 years of experience in the interactive and digital media space performing work for leading brands like AOL, HP, Netscape, and Sony, he offers insights and perspective that will minimize missteps and improve the chances for success. His experience in launching and growing new business in both B2B and B2C categories also include efforts for Hanna-Barbera Studios, Liebert/Emerson Network Power and Turner Broadcasting.

Mark Ruf

Product Management

Mark has experience with startups from Columbus, Ohio to Sydney, Australia. After receiving his degree in Marketing from The Ohio State University he has come to accelerate the Taivara mission. When Mark isn’t in the office, you can find him running, playing music, and spending too much time on his computer.

Todd Anderson

Todd works across Taivara’s practices, identifying ways to help our clients grow. Serving as an advisor and consultant, he offers a perspective earned through a variety of entrepreneurial successes in bar ownership, product manufacturing and real estate development. He has turned local businesses into national players and has helped develop and commercialize products carried by national retailers. In his free time you can find him smoking meat and cigars.

Mark Nguyen

Senior Software Engineer

Mark is a full stack developer and a proud graduate of The Ohio State University. He gives nothing less than his best when if comes to developing and shipping software. Mark is a well-rounded individual. When he isn’t coding he’s most likely dabbling in boxing, book-binding, or playing piano.

Alex Vargas

Senior Software Engineer

Alex is an obscenely proud father, consistent side-project enthusiast, and product-focused software engineer. He takes special pride in finding the right balance between shipping a product and building code the right way. When he’s not at the office, you might find him at a craft brewery or rolling around on a Brazilian jiu jitsu mat.

Scott Ziegler

Senior Software Engineer

Scott is a seasoned veteran when it comes to full stack development. As a dedicated member of the Taivara team, he is always willing to go the extra mile to craft the perfect code. Scott is also a former professional bassist and still enjoys making music in his free time.

Phaedra Paul

Software Engineer

Phaedra is a developer who dedicates herself to new fields of study and clean coding practices. She is proficient in git, java, C#, javascript, vim, and python. In her free time, she enjoys curling up with a good book and stretching out with a yoga mat.

Jacquline Rinehardt

Director, Taivara Labs

Jacqueline leads Taivara Labs, Taivara’s internal accelerator. She is familiar with the inner workings of a growing startup and has built and grown multiple projects of her own since graduating from Ohio University.

Jill McDonagh

Director, Finance & HR

Jill is the Business Operations Manager and has been with the company from the beginning. She is responsible for human resources and finance at Taivara and has provided business operations services for several companies since 2008. In her free time she enjoys yoga, doing home improvement projects and spending time with her family and their two french bulldogs.

Jen Slagle

Client Support Specialist

The Taivara Team

Work with our diverse team of entrepreneurs, strategists and technologists